Meredith and Denair advance on the gathered cultists and zombies, ready to send them to the other side where they belong!
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Zombies (Blue, Orange, Green, Yellow)
Red Leader
Cultists (Pink, Purple, Cyan, Black)
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Frankie, Quang Chi, Vosk and Annea are UP!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
"Chop, chop, now, the baker should have a fresh batch ready for me soon. Can't be late for that, now can we?" Vosk says, patronizingly clapping fingers into the palm of his hand. His allies begin to quiver with magically enhanced vigor.
________
Though quite serious about wishing to discover this mysterious woman's motivations Quang Chi is also quite serious about putting an end to the festivities. He takes aim and sinks an arrow deeply into the Cyan Cultist's skull, dropping her where she stands!
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Zombies (Blue, Orange, Green, Yellow)
Red Leader
Cultists (Pink, Purple, Black)
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Frankie, Vosk and Annea are UP!
While Frankie continues to snake and sneak forward towards the gross party Annea and Vosk both do something TOTALLY AWESOME as they take advantage of the element of surprise!
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Zombies (Blue, Orange, Green, Yellow)
Red Leader
Cultists (Pink, Purple, Black)
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Frankie, Quang Chi and Vosk are UP!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Suppose I can try to even the odds... Vosk starts singing to himself as his usually cumbersome lope carries him much further than it ought to. "Fill my eyes with that double vision, No disguise for that double vision!" As he reaches his destination, he's snapping his fingers, along with five other equally handsome middle-aged men.
Pulling a whip with one hand and a wand with the other, the corpulent man waves it at the small clearing to the east. "The very woods themselves shall reclaim your lives!" he warns as the grass and trees seem to explode with hungry growth. "If only they knew not to miss the forest for the tree..." he says back to his allies.
________
|
Annea flies forward and prepares to unleash unbridled distruction upon the undead while remaining a safe distance above the fray.
"I call upon the Goddess to destroy you and this vile mockeries of life. Spirits of nature arise and bring down these monstrosities!
"Stay back my friends! The spirits of nature will be unable to tell friend from foe, but in just a few moments most of these undead should be put low by the magics granted unto my be the Goddess herself!"
Vosk moves up and snaps his finger, conjuring multiple images of himself to protect and befuddle. Meanwhile Annea conjures a truly massive mass of thorny vines and brush that covers the entirety of the feast and then some!
One of the cultists, Pink, is peppered with thorns and collapses, while Cultist Purple and Cultist Black manage to avoid the barrage. Red Leader as well as all four of the zombies also suffer the effects of the thorny blast, though they all manage to keep their feet. More importantly, all of the feasters find themselves entangled with the exception of Red Leader and Yellow Zombie!
Not one to be outdone, Vosk next conjures more illusionary growth to confound any foes that remain though he's sure to let the rest of you in on the endeavor.
Quang Chi also gets to work, firing a volley of arrows and systematically dropping Purple Cultist, Blue Zombie, Green Zombie, Yellow Zombie, and Orange Zombie! It's a total bloodbath!
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Red Leader
Cultist Black
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Frankie is UP!
Frankie continues to hunker down and sneaks a bit closer to the action, before pausing to adopt a defensive stance. This is all pretty crazy stuff but he's ready to do what he can to help, if he can!
"How dare you!?" Red Leader shrieks, her otherwise beautiful face contorting angrily as Annea and Quang Chi manage to pick off nearly all of her allies in one fell swoop. "My revenge against Falcon's Hollow is at hand! You have NO RIGHT to oppose me!"
She moves closer to the group, clearly attempting to move beyond the reach of Annea's thorny plants, but her armor seems to be slowing her movements somewhat. Still, she's clearly not about to take your party-crashing ways lying down. As she lifts up some sort of symbol she begins to cast...
Whoa, it's Unholy Blight.
...and a cold, greasy cloud of dark miasma falls over Meredith, Denair, Quang Chi, and Vosk!
"Defend me, my ally! Facilitate their end and that of Falcon's Hollow!" she then calls to her one remaining ally. As she does, the thorns from Annea's spell dig into her skin once more.
Unfortunately, Cultist Black is entangled and struggles to free themselves...
...to no avail! He succumbs to the thorny plants, leaving Red as the last one standing!
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Red Leader
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Meredith + Denair, Annea are UP at the bottom of Round 1 and Frankie, Quang Chi, Vosk are UP at the top of Round 2!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Revenge. All too familiar to Meredith. Denair's stories about the Queen of Thorns and her vengeful retributions against the humans who wronged her come to bear. This could have been her path, too. At the brink of death a fell god could have turned her into a tool to wreak havoc and spread death, killing countless innocents caught in the crossfire.
Why did Meredith choose to come back like this? To live among humans? She wishes she could ask her old self. But now she faced a mirror - a reflection of her own self. Revenge for the sake of revenge.
"Killing you is a mercy. You won't stop after Falcon's Hollow. You've already ruined Darkmoon Wood. A necessary victim, I suppose?"
Meredith keeps control of herself and moves to the edge of the thorns with all due Haste. She then casts Long Arm to give herself the reach she needs. "Denair, let's line things up."
Denair cannot think clearly. She inhales most of the fumes and begins coughing. Darkmoon Wood weighs heavily on her mind. If she had been bonded to a tree here, unable to escape the plagued flowers as they spread death around her...
Meredith's words and command is the only thing she can really think about, so she continues to fly around the area until she is five feet above the ground and behind the apparent leader.
"Try... that... again." Her fists well up to the size of watermelons.
|
The miasma washes over Quang Chi, and he chokes on the evil fumes. Seeing that all the minions are down, and not wanting to slay the leader without more answers, he lowers his bow and begins to walk forward.
"Who are you!" he demands.
Uncharacteristically, the normally stoic monk begins to lose his temper with this woman.
"What revenge? Against an entire town? Did every soul in that town wrong you? Each and every one? Even the babies and the animals?"
He comes to a stop at the edge of the mass of thorns.
Oh my, we have teeth now! Vosk smirks a little as his allies lose their temper, but quickly adjusts his focus to more important things. Circling around his diversion and past Frankie and Annea, he lets the illusion fade when he confirms that there is just a single foe left. "Such efficiency, how grand!" he remarks. I'll definitely make it back in time now! What a wonder magic is.
"Please, just step out of that ghastly flora and explain what's been going on and your plans, ok? Violence doesn't have to be the answer!" he insists, beckoning the woman to come closer to him.
________
Absolutely not impressed by the woman's angry shrieking Frankie continues to sneak closer to the action, very nearly shanking Annea in his excitement before realizing that she's a friendly and instead veering off into the trees. Since the thrashing, thorny vines can't really...see...anything, they don't fling any thorns at the 'child'.
Meredith manages to shrug off the worst effects of whatever the sickly miasma was and advances to the edge of Annea's spell, using her own magic to length her reach with her longspear. But now that she's close, the vines fling a barrage of thorns her way...
...but they miss!
Denair, on the other hand, doesn't fare quite so well as the miasma not only burns her skin but leaves her feeling sickened for the experience. She takes to the air and closes on the woman, as the vines fling a barrage of thorns at her, too...
...but once again, she's not as lucky as her summoner and some of the thorns pierce her flesh!
While Quang Chi also finds that the miasma burns his skin, he doesn't seem to suffer the debilitating sickness that befalls Denair. Beginning to lose his temper he advances right to the edge of the thorns, not caring about the risk...
...as he suffers from a thorny barrage. He bellows a demand, a call for an answer, to a reason why.
the woman screams in reply, now seeming completely, truly, unhinged. "When my father brought illness out of the woods and gave it to my mother, no one helped! No one cared! All they cared about were saving their own skins! And after they were gone, did anyone care about the child they left behind? Poor little orphan Vondrella? No! So why should I care one whit about what happens to any of them?"
Vosk, also largely resisting the burning and sickening effects of the miasma closes the distance, somewhat amused as his companions begin to lose their cool. Even though she's sort of already answered the basic question of 'Why?', he attempts to influence her mind, making a simple suggestion that she should really just step out of the vines so you can have a nice chat about her feelings.
And...you know what? Maybe that's not a bad idea.
"My...quarrel isn't with you...so..." she mumbles, looking rather conflicted.
______________
Frankie
Quang Chi
Vosk
==============
Red Leader
==============
Meredith & Denair
Annea
Active Conditions: Haste
Environmental Conditions: None
Annea is UP at the bottom of Round 1!
|
|
"So no one helped. They all have to die. That's it? Even the children, who weren't alive when your parents died? At least you weren't sold into slavery. I had to help myself from that."
Meredith shakes her head. She's even more surprised when she listens to Vosk of all people. What the heck is going on here?
Though no one seems particularly impressed with this answer you're also not likely to argue if she wants to simply walk out of Annea's spell and talk about her feelings - even if it's thanks to Vosk's 'suggestion'.
Meanwhile Annea decides to let her vines continue to do their thing while she channels some healing energy to mend some of the damage the rest of you have suffered, though she's still a bit too far away for it to reach Denair.
Amazingly Vondrella manages to avoid getting entangled by the vines and slowly comes walking out of the writhing, grasping mass...and comes to a stop right in front of Meredith.
"At least one of you seems to be willing to be reasonable," Vondrella remarks, turning her attention to the many Vosks that stand a few feet away. "Maybe we can come to some sort of...arrangement?"
Denair wants to clobber this woman so badly. She's caused so much damage in her quest for revenge. She's killed so many, not even people involved in her loss. It takes a stern look from Meredith to calm her down, and she simply buzzes near Meredith and keeps her eyes locked on Vondrella.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ashamed at his loss of control, Quang Chi takes a deep breath after his outburst. He closes his eyes, mentally roots his feet deep into the earth, and centers himself. It takes a moment, but he finally lets himself rise from his meditative state.
He nods to Meredith's question, which had hung in the air unanswered. "Yes, she has answered my questions."
"But I am not her executioner. Revenge for revenge is the snake eating its own tail."
He turns to Vondrella. "How do we stop the disease?" he gestures to the basin.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just the right words in the right person's ear, easy as that! Pleased with himself, Vosk polishes the nails of his hand against his shirt while he waits for the woman to close. "Seeing as she is willing to parlay, why not give it a chance, hmmm?"
"My dear, what you went through is beyond horrible. I can't even begin to imagine what you must have gone through on your own. It must have been relief beyond measure when she, your Goddess, began to show you the way. A guiding light in the darkest night. You wouldn't be the woman you are today without her... yet despite your anger and the things you've done to get this far, would you wish your life upon another? Nobody helped you, that is the cold truth that I don't need to remind you. But would you truly wish another child of Falcon's Hollow to suffer as you have as a child?" he pleads. "I won't judge you for doing what you've had to do to survive. But would the young Vondrella, scared and alone, have wished others to have felt what she felt if she could help it?" Emotional appeals are cheap, but can be effective. Let's see if she's become too hardened to care, I'll have to remember this for the homicidal death cult!
________
|
|
"It's not revenge. It's release." She looks Denair in her beady eyes. "If she can reverse or halt the spread of the disease... fine."
Meredith ponders for a moment. "You're the woman Laurel mentioned. Twenty five years ago they burned your house to ground in an effort to stop the disease that hit your father and mother. Would you really spread that pain and misery upon others? Why not prevent it from happening again?" She shakes her head and tries. "Please. Stop this pain from spreading again."
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
"I..." Vondrella begins, then stops, gazing down at the symbol hanging around her neck, depicting a skull-decorated fly. "My life has made me strong...hasn't it? My fellows took me in, showed me Urgathoa's way. Even while begging on the streets we could dream of one day being free to indulge our minds and bodies in pure excess, feasting and reveling until near to bursting."
She smiles at the thought, but the smile fades as quickly as it came.
"The tale of Isandrea's Basin came to me by...well, divine providence, surely. It had to be. In his last hours, when delirium gripped him, my father spoke of a beautiful grove in the wood with a basin of the purest, cleanest water he'd ever tasted. But I thought it was his fever speaking for him and forgot those words...until I read of the basin. Then, I knew - my father had surely discovered it that day and drank from its waters before returning home. And I knew that it had to still be out here, somewhere."
"So...I searched. And I found my prize. I knew I could make Falcon's Hollow pay for what they'd done to us. I'd spread the palepox throughout the town and all would suffer and die, for the glory of my Pallid Princess!"
To Quang Chi and Meredith, she slowly, solemnly shakes her head. "The water from the basin is truly cursed. Any plants watered from the basin will carry the disease in their pollen. You can cut and burn the plants and you can remove the water from the basin itself and purify it, but any fresh water placed into it will become cursed as well."
"You ask if me I would have other children live the lift that I have led...and I...once I would have said yes, but now...I don't know. But what good would repentance do? The flowers bloom and the disease spreads. I can't stop it."
Vondrella's words seem truly sincere. Yet even if she herself has no power to halt the spread of the disease, there is still your work with Laurel. Surely from that she can produce an anti-plague?
______________
Vosk gently takes hold of her, taking care to avoid any contact with her skin. "You are strong, which is why I know you will you will persevere," he says, releasing her. "Please, help us right this wrong?"
________
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Denair sits next to Meredith and stews. But as everyone mentions the basin, she finally gets some clarity and grabs some cloth to wrap around her wooden hands. She gathers the courage to fly over and grab it.
It's quite beautiful, with a style and craftsmanship no one could make here. Holding the basin, she wonders what Isandrea was thinking when she made this cursed artifact.
Revenge. She must have been furious at the humans in Falcon's Hollows. So she built this. And Vondrella's father drank from this. And she lost her parents and the town abandoned her. So she took her revenge. And now Denair knows the fey of Darkmoon Wood are infected. Denair realizes she's about to enter a cycle.
She picks up the basin, lowers it at Meredith's feet, drains the water near an empty patch in the forest, and asks Annea to burn the patch.
And then she falls to her knees and cries, barking, whining and wailing. Meredith gives her a solid hug to comfort her. It takes her some time, but she finally calms down enough. to speak to Vonderella.
"Laurel said she was a child when your parents died. Her mother told her the tale. Do you know what she's doing now? She and Lady Cirthana are trying to cure the infected right now. You said no one helped. A cleric of Iomedae and the town healer- they care." She points a wooden paw. "I'm sorry no one cared when you needed help, but there are people now who care. And they might die trying to fix the disease you spread."
"The infected- they are parents. If they don't recover, their children will be orphaned, like you were. But this time, Falcon's Hollow is trying to help. You wouldn't be in a crazy death cult if they tried to help your parents. So, do you want more broken people, or do you want to see the good Falcon's Hollow can offer?"
I'm defending humans. She looks at Frankie's hands, she looks up at Meredith (who smiles) and she looks to Vonderella. Denair breathes a sigh of clarity, and she calms herself.
Vondrella does for a moment look at most of you as if you're asking the most ridiculous question in the world. "The basin is right there," she nods as Quang Chi gestures to it. "Take it, do whatever you want with it. I don't know that it can be destroyed but maybe you or someone you know can figure that out."
Though the young woman is still hesitant to...well, seemingly do anything, something in her seems to shift as Denair cries and wails after having carefully emptied the water from the basin. When the eidolon makes her own plea, Vondrella's lips begin to tremble and she draws her hand over her eyes.
"I'm beaten," she murmurs, eyes closed. "I'll not resist; I'll go with you. But...how can I return to that place? Maybe Laurel and Cirthanna would forgive but what about the others, once they know what I tried to do? Maybe it would just be better if I left...went somewhere else..."
Now that you have Isandrea's Basin in your possession and Vondrella in the midst of a crisis of faith and conscience, it seems that the threat posed to Falcon's Hollow and the Darkmoon Wood is well and truly over. Little remains now but to check in with Laurel and decide what to do with your 'prisoner'. While it might be sorely tempting to try and destroy the basin here and now, you recall that VC Brackett requested you return it for study if you acquired it.
"Why don't you start over somewhere else? A place where nobody knows you and your past is what you tell them it is!" Vosk suggests rather cheerily, producing a card with neat writing upon it. "I am rather well-connected in Mut, Taldor. Should you find your way there, hand this to the harbormaster," he says with a wink.
"Let's be on now! I've an order of food to acquire!" he announces, lumbering back the way they came.
|
|
"Vosk does have a point. Even if you can't return home again, home is where you decide to make it. We do need to check in with Laurel and Cirthanna, tell them we've stopped the source. Then we can return to the Venture Captain."
She takes a look at Denair. "It isn't easy to start over, but you will find your chance. And when you do, don't squander it. Show them you are better. Laurel's fixing a mistake Falcon's Hallow made a long time ago. Help the Pathfinder Society understand how this basin works; they will treat you much better than anyone else has. Trust me."
|
|
Frankie looks around at everyone and tries to read the room, not something he's EVER been good at.
"Oh, THAT's the basin. Heh." He shrugs sheepishly, pulling out his cocoa skin he offers some to their new friend "Like cocoa? You can have some while we go back to town ok?" He offers up his little hand and tugs her in the direction they came... for once.
|
|
Annea begins raising her voice in an incredulous tone,"Starting over?!? Are you all kidding me? Have you forgotten how many people have suffered at this vile creatures hands? Oh, so sad she had a rough life and BOO HOO for her!"
Annea will let her hair grow to its full magical length.
"How many have you killed Vondrella? What penitence will you pay for all of the men, women and children you have infected and killed with your corrupted worship of Urgathoa? How many creatures of these woods have suffered and died because of your self-absorbed belief that your pain is unique or greater than others in the world?"
"No Vondrella... you WILL NOT BE RUNNING from justice here. You WILL be gong back to Falcon's Hallow and you will accept whatever justice the villagers deem appropriate."
"Accept these terms or prepare to receive the Goddess' justice now!"
|
|
"I didn't forget." Meredith remains calm. "Killing someone who worships death isn't exactly a threat. I tried that before, remember? I just want to make sure we walk on the side of Justice rather than Revenge." She hugs Denair.
"No one is running, Vonderella is in our custody. Annea, do you want Falcon's Hollow to hang her or do you want the Pathfinder Society to figure out how to stop this from happening again?"
Damn, she's pretty impressive when she's mad... Meredith watches Annea's hair drop to her ankles and wonders how her neck supports all that weight.
Though some of you seem content to perhaps let Vondrella off with a warning to start over elsewhere or at the very least keep her in your own custody for the time being, Annea is not having any of it.
As the young woman erupts into a whirl of sound and fury, calling upon the defeated priestess to accept her fate or meet her death here and now, all Vondrella can do is regard her with an expression that seems weary.
"I said I would go with you, didn't I? And really, what choice do I have even if I didn't want to go? If I refuse, you cut me down. If I try to run, you cut me down. No. I'll go with you and accept my fate that way, whatever it might be."
Though Vondrella doesn't really seem to react to Meredith's mention of the Pathfinder Society - she may very have little to no knowledge of the organization - you do see a flicker of confusion when Quang Chi suggests allowing Queen Syntira to decide her fate.
"I...I don't understand. What do the fey have to do with any of this, beyond the basin being a fey creation? I have no quarrel with them."
She glances over at Annea. "And...wait. She mentioned something about creatures of the wood dying. Is...did it...?"
Vondrella's puzzlement brings something into focus that you might not have noticed earlier - during her confession of her plan and her own story, she never once mentioned anything about the fey beyond their connection to Isandrea's Basin or her plan having anything to do with the fey in any way, shape, or form...
|
|
Quang Chi returns to where the group stands clustered around their captive. He stands beside the kneeling Denair and places a hand upon her shoulder in silent comfort.
"You do not know, I see," he says to Vondrella. "Nature did what it does - the wind and rain carried the spores of your flowers throughout the forest. This forest," he indicates with a sweep of his other arm, "where the fey and many many other creatures live."
"It was, in fact, the fey Queen who rules here who asked the Pathfinders for help against your disease. Your revenge against one town has made orphans throughout this forest."
He turns away from Vondrella to let this news sink in.
"Meredith, my friend, I still think that Queen Syntira has the greatest right to decide her fate. But I will defer to your judgement in matters of the fey."
|
|
"Alright, then. Let the fey decide on Vonderella's fate. I will... try to speak to the fey and make sure they understand the situation. Also, we're taking the basin back with us." She holds onto it. "I don't think the Queen will mind losing this artifact."
"Annea, is that good? Let the denizens of nature pass judgement on her."
|
|
The discussion of what to do with the woman is too much for Frankie. He's no judge, jury, or executioner. He just wants people to get along and have fun. "You sure you don't want any cocoa?" He offers one last time, hoping to sorta break the tension in the air or maybe to just make himself feel better.
Vosk, a decent distance down the path now, turns and calls back. "Waiting for a strong wind? Perhaps a formal invitation? Carrier pigeon? No, wait, smoke signals!"
Waving the stragglers off, he continues his slow, content walk back to town. Absentmindedly, he rubs his corpulent belly.
________